"Pencils"

"Objects"

"Common Objects"

The Shoe Tree

He collects shoes, other people’s shoes. After which he drills holes in them, loops them with nylon string and hangs them in a California Live Oak Tree, at his Sonoma home.

He documents each pair, as to who gave them to him, the date and the importance of the shoes from the giver.

It’s a list given to anyone who is interested and everyone who wants to be a part of a living, growing art statement.

“Shoes tell a lot about someone, we rely upon their dependability, while sharing a part of our personality with how they look”, says Van Breda. In addition, he has a Rouges Gallery of shoes, important artist’s shoes, which his wife Dallas started for him.

“Dale Chiluliy’s was the first,” says Van Breda, “they were too painterly to let them rot in a tree”, and so he kept them inside. Year after year he has begged, borrowed and stolen, shoes from important artists of our time. Billy Al Bengston, Chris Burden, Ed Moses, Frank Gehry, Robert Graham, Chuck Arnoldi and Robert Hudson are just a few.

“I don’t know how this really all started,” says Van Breda, “it was just a fun idea, after too much wine with friends one night, and has kept on growing”.

You can visit Bob’s Shoe Tree on his website or in person by appointment but, don’t forget to bring your shoes.